The narcissist is a traumatized child cowering in the body of an adult, magically shielded by a godlike False Self, an imaginary friend. He then proceeds to abusively impose the worship of this divinity on everyone.
(From the book "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited" by Sam Vaknin - Click on this link to purchase the print book, or 16 e-books, or 3 DVDs with 16 hours of video lectures on narcissists, psychopaths, and abuse in relationships: http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/thebook.html)